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- Average user rating: stars out of 318 votes Back to product review
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User reviews
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5 out of 5 people found this review helpful
5 stars
Version: Kerio Personal Firewall 4.0
"Possibly the best free firewall"
Pros: I'm using Windows XP SP2 on a normal Home PC with DSL connection.
I've been using Zone Alarm's free firewall for the last year or two but have recently switched to Kerio due to its more advanced features.
With Zone Alarm some people had trouble connecting to my computer to listen to my JetCast radio stream. With Kerio however, I managed to easily configure it to allow access.
Kerio displays good information on connections and logs, more so than other free firewalls. For example - Zone Alarm shows a limited amount of information on the connections you have open, and intrusions blocked. With Kerio, I can see every program that is using the internet, and every connection it is making, with full DNS and IP details.
You can choose which alerts to show and which not to. You can even configure it to alert you for every program run on your computer - even those not using the internet (optional).
Intrusions are categorized into 3 priorities and you can choose what action to take with each.
Kerio sucessfully passed all the tests I made on it, every port scanned was 100% stealthed.
It is very thorough and very secure, and even includes boot time protection for computer bootup and shut down.
Kerio supports fast user switching with no problem. Zone Alarm also does this. Sygate Firewall does not however.
Kerio is low on system resource use. It is slightly faster than Zone Alarm in general, and quite a lot faster during PC bootup.
Conclusion:
A very fast-working and fully featured firewall. Does it's job well and provides all the features and protection I need on my Home PC. The best firewall I've used, and it's free!
Cons: Pro Features not all free:
Kerio has excellent features for blocking ads, cookies, popups etc. This is free for 30 days but then only available on upgrade to Kerio pro. However, most of the more important features are free and this is not a big issue for me.
Ease of use:
There are no help wizards, and no explanations of some of the more advanced features, and some of the explanations that are there are confusing. For more experienced users it doesn't take long to work out, and is be fine. It's not overly complicated, but for less-experienced users or people looking for something quite simple, I would recommend Zone Alarm.
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13 out of 13 people found this review helpful
5 stars
Version: Kerio Personal Firewall 4.0
"Best Software Firewall....PERIOD!!"
Summary: Ok, it's late and I've been running a battery of tests on all the major Software Firewalls (ZoneAlarm 5.5 Free, Sygate Personal Free, Outpost Personal Free, McAfee Personal Pro, and Zerio PF). I configured each firewall to be pretty strict so the te... read more
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5 stars
Version: Kerio Personal Firewall 4.0
Pros: This is a really good firewall. This is such a secure firewall that I actually had to turn some setting off so I could aactually run a program. I did a firewall test off of firewallleaktester. Of the one's I did it passed 12/13 of the tests. Which is really good for a firewall. I also found this firewall very easy to learn. I just can't think of much more to say. Just download this firewall and you won't be sorry.
Cons: I understand that now firewall is perfect, but it seems like firewall makers today are not concentrating on what they are supposed to. I mean a popup blocker? What is that for? I wish there was an option to close ports and prevent certain programs from listening, but it doesn't really matter. I think I'm just getting a little too picky in what I download.
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17 out of 33 people found this review helpful
5 stars
Version: Kerio Personal Firewall 4.0
Pros: It passed all my tests for hacker activity and does a good job of blocking the trojans.I like the pro trial because it turn's into the freeware version after the trail period ends.Has lots of customizable features.In fact it's so good it even blocked me from the download.com review 5 star thing because it's a java application.
Cons: I like to be able to shut ports so apps cant listen, but this allows applications to "listen" and I dont want some apps "listening".
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1 out of 1 people found this review helpful
1 stars
Version: Kerio Personal Firewall 4.0
Pros: The setup seems good but not for the beginner user!
Cons: The configuration was complicated, I couldnt get it working on my system running win 2000 it blocked the internet and different other apps, its very complicating to use, I never could figure out how to set this firewall up from the complicated controls so I wouldnt recommened this for begginers or anyone who wants a effececive firwall with no hassles, cause this firewall will cause many hassles.
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